Known are pianos having a reduced size keyboard, such as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,847,301 to Steinbuhler. Historically, a primary objective in connection with such keyboards has been to promote the comfort and ease of playing for those individuals for whom a conventionally sized keyboard presents challenges. Whereas, for example, such individuals might have difficulty in spreading the fingers of a single hand to such an extent as to play a "tenth" chord, or even an octave, on a conventionally sized keyboard, they might have little or no problem playing such chords on a reduced-size keyboard.
Recent developments in the piano industry have seen reductions in the length of an 88-key piano keyboard to approximately 38 inches (from the left edge of the lowermost A to the right edge of the uppermost C, as viewed when seated at a piano). A further reduction in this size is oft seen as a desirable objective, yet to date various impediments to achieving this goal have become apparent.
The aforementioned patent to Steinbuhler also relates to key bracing elements that may be used in connection with a reduced-size keyboard so as to strengthen, and provide greater support for, those extreme bass and treble keys that, in a reduced-size keyboard, are embodied by key shanks that are angled to such an extent as to invite the development of lateral moment arms that, absent such bracing members, would result in a highly inefficient transmission of force when the player plays such keys.
However, it has been recognized that such bracing members could well add bulk to such keys in such a way that the force required to play them is still somewhat increased. This may not necessarily be a problem with the extreme bass keys, as one is normally accustomed to the increased force in playing such keys in any event, but in the case of the extreme treble keys the additional force required might be seen as something of a nuisance.